Transcript for the Piece Audio version of Destroy It To Save It

HOST INTRO: Nineteen Fifty Four was an important year for race relations in the United States. That was the year of Brown versus the Board of Education where the Supreme Court desegregated schools in the South. But that wasn't the court's only decision that year that changing the lives of black and white Americans. This term, the Court is re-visiting their 1954 decision to up-root 23-thousand blacks and whites who were living literally in the shadow of the US Capitol.

In the current case, homeowners in New London, Connecticut say they can't be thrown out of their homes by their city government so that the city can build offices, hotels and a parking lot. The city says if it tears down the houses, the community will benefit because the new development will bring in jobs and tax revenue. In the 1954 case, it was ALSO said that there would be benefits if a neighborhood was torn down. In THAT case, the neighborhood was Southwest Washington, DC.

The 1954 case was called "Berman Vs. Parker." Producer Richard Paul went back out to Southwest, DC looking at the changes it brought about.